2011-02-21

We had previously had a vanity in our bedroom that was lightly used except to hold some of Trina's jewelry and had just a few little things in the small drawers. We decided what would be more useful for us, is to expand on the small closet space we have, and replace the vanity with a wardrobe. So, I now have my own closet!

It's a 1920's or 1930's art-deco wardrobe. It is almost exactly as wide as the vanity was, and shallower, so it fits into the same space well, but provides us a more useful space to store things, and it's pretty :)

And, it was another opportunity to clean things out, assess what we really needed/wanted to keep, and then get rid of a few things, and re-arrange the others in a more useful/decorative way. It's nice being able to use some of our clothing (hats, scarves, etc) and some of Trina's jewelry as decoration, at the same time as conveniently arranging it in our room.

And now I have all my clothes in one spot, including my neckties and belts, and the wardrobe even has a small lock with a little key, that still works :)

2011-02-15

I'm not sure that the emotional states of being happy and sad are things which we should attempt to attain or avoid. I think, rather, we should try to attain a personal centeredness and strength which allows us to accept the emotional states of happy and sad as they come, without being swept away by them.

Attempting always to be happy, and always to avoid being sad - or vice versa - seems exceptionally unhealthy to me.

2011-02-11

We live in a wonderful neighborhood. It's a really weird mix of residential, industrial and commercial buildings, with some mix, of course (what were houses, now housing commercial businesses, and commercial businesses occupying what used to be industrial buildings).

In any case, in a building a few blocks away from us that was originally a bakery, a tea shop (The Jasmine Pearl) opened up back in October. They have been doing wholesale tea sales for some years, but just opened up a storefront, in which you can buy their teas, and also taste anything they sell for free.

In any case, because we love tea, and it's within about 2 minutes walking distance, we go in often on Saturday mornings, and we've kind of become friends with the owners. So, we had them over for brunch this last weekend, and had a really nice time eating and chatting. They brought peach juice and sparkling wine to go along with the crustless quiche we made :)

After eating and having some coffee, we went for a walk all around the neighborhood:

It was a really nice day, and we're glad to have gotten to know them. Good people, good shop, good tea, good all around :) Happy weekend, all!

2011-02-07

I was just recently away on a business trip to lovely Vancouver, British Columbia - land of Tim Horton's and funny looking 2 dollar coins :)

The arrival in Vancouver started off a bit rough, but thanks to the intervention of a friend and very kind person, Nathan, everything turned out fine, and we all made it out alive.

And then I got sick :)

Anyway, my time in Vancouver was pretty full, but I did manage an afternoon/evening of one day, plus about an hour or so on another day to walk around and take photos. I have a roll of black and white film as well, that I'm picking up today, so we'll see how that turns out.

Vancouver definitely feels like a larger city than Portland - at least the main downtown part of it. Portland actually has a height limit on buildings in some parts of town, including downtown, and it contributes to a kind of nice, cozy feel that I sort of like. Vancouver's gastown feels a bit more like Portland to me - shorter buildings, more old architecture left, smaller streets.